One Direction star Harry Styles has said goodbye to his long locks - to help kids with cancer.

The singer, from Holmes Chapel, posted a picture of his hacked-off ponytail on Instagram, adding 'whoops' and the hashtag #Littleprincesstrust - the name of a charity that makes wigs for children who have lost their hair through chemotherapy.

But his noble intentions seem to have been lost on some of his fans, whose reaction on Twitter was borderline hysterical - sending the hashtag #RIPHarrysHair trending within minutes.

One fan tweeted: "Harry Styles has obviously done this to ruin my life."

Fortunately for our faith in humankind, the majority of fans were full of support for him and the cause, like Lorraine, who spoke for all reasonable people everywhere with this tweet:

Thanking Harry in a blog post, the Little Princess Trust said: "Huge thank you to Harry Styles for supporting our #hairtospare campaign! Thank you for donating your hair to us Harry!

"We are grateful to anyone who decides to do good things for us. Harry Styles’ high profile however helps raise awareness about the charity too.

"He reached out to the Trust because he wanted to support us – what an endorsement from someone so popular!"

Harry has yet to post a picture of his new do, but it was reported earlier this year that his hair was facing the chop after he landed a role in Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk film.

It is believed he will play a young man who gets caught up in the evacuation as the Allied Forces fight the Nazis.

The film will also star Oscar-nominated movie hunk Tom Hardy as well as Mark Rylance, who won the best supporting actor Oscar for the film Bridge of Spies, and legendary star of stage and screen Sir Kenneth Branagh.

Production on the film is set to begin in May, with a release date set for July 2017.